Hasbro sends along word this morning that they will be re-releasing a number of Vintage Collection figures in early 2013 - check out the press releases below.

For the USA:

Quote

STAR WARS VINTAGE FIGURE LINE: U.S. REGION UPDATEGreat news, STAR WARS action figure fans! Hasbro will be re-issuing fan favorites from the popular VINTAGE line. We heard fans loud and clear, and as such only the best of the best characters from previously released waves will be featured in the revived line. The new series of VINTAGE figures will be available starting in early February 2013. Distribution of characters may vary by location and is not controlled by Hasbro, so please check your local retailer for your favorite characters around that time.

It's a disappointment that it isn't a true "Best of" assortment, but this is unexpected so kudos to Hasbro for keeping TVC in circulation for folks who missed out this year. I might pick up some additional 501st Clones, ARC Commanders, and Gam Guards if I see them.

Now hopefully Hasbro branches out and gets the Naboo fighter, green Clone tank, and some of the rarer deluxe sets (Scuba Clone, Anakin w/ fighter) into circulation as well.

Yeah some of those are headscratchers, but I'll take more Fleet Troopers. He was findable, but not in any quantity, and never for long, so yeah I'll be cool with that at least. I'd like another Tarkin too, honestly. He's a figure who needs customized at this point, to me, but I never saw more than 2 and I wanted a carded one and loose one.

Bom Vimdin, Hoth Luke, even Wedge (he's out in bulk at 5 Below, and not moving as well as Wicket, Gammie, or even some of the repack army builders)... bad choices.

Nice to see Hasbro note that they can't control the distribution of this stuff too, and basically making SURE you see it's the retailers fault if you can't find what you want of this stuff next year.

What I don't get is, why would retail get any of it next year when they seemingly didn't want it this year? A whole line separate of the main line right next to it again?

Anyway, yeah, some better choices could've been made. INC and Royal Guard and Republic Trooper all would've made my list of wants. Evazan, RFT, Vizla, Malgus would also make my list.

To the "No" list I'd add CW Ani even though he's good. Save him for future re-releases in the regular line on other packaging since Ani sells and he's a good figure from a kid-oriented base. Saber construction Luke I saw more than any figure from that wave. E1 Maul? Really? You'd consider releasing ANY of those Wave 1 figures, again? Like Ani, save him for re-release as filler for new waves on new cards.

Likewise, I saw Barriss Offee often. I saw ROTS 501st Clone more than any from his wave. Saw Logray a lot. I still have an "Oddball" up at K-mart that's going nowhere.

Narrow it down, add a few like the INC, and maybe double up on him and other army builders, and you'd make more people happy I think.

That's just it, I don't really see any "choices" being made. I see Hasbro dumping their excess stock of Waves 4, 4.1, 5, and 6 on us and calling them "fan favorites!"

If you go to EE and look up the case packs for those waves, the list you get will be 95% the same as Hasbro's list there. I think the only one you're missing is Qui-Gon and I won't be surprised if he hits the pegs with these too because of that.

To make it even sadder, this is the THIRD try at re-releasing some of these. They made a whole big deal this year about how great it was that they were giving us "fan favorite" 2010 Wave 7 and Gammie again in 2012. Now we get the same wave again in 2013 too? Bom Vimdin is not that popular.

You can maybe say that Hasbro is doing us a favor by getting these cases to market but they have actually hit, and are hitting more now with the holidays approaching; I've actually found these cases at retail now.

I think the reason that Hasbro is getting retail to take them is probably because, in that news that's coming, we're going to find out that the BaD line is getting pushed until fall to tie in with the 3D releases better. Then they carry it over through 2014 which leads them into the 2015 new movie line without having to do any packaging change in 2014.

If they get to plan the 2014 line now, push the 2013 stuff until end of the year, that also frees them up about mid-way through 2013 to start working on the 2015 movie lines.

E...

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"I sell the drugs that keep you people from seeing dragons at night." - Gus "Psych"

On the bright side, lots of people who weren't able to get Shae or Starkiller will seemingly get another chance. Kithaba will probably be the red headband version as well. Too bad some of us already spent a hefty chunk of change tracking these down on the secondary market.

All that is happening here is Hasbro is leaving the SKU alive and any store that orders will get these 3 leftover stock cases. Instead of giving them to the discount stores like they have been. But I do I think that there will be a real "Best Of" wave released later in the year. Most likely just the Online wave with the Bastila wave and INC replacing the four Walmart figures.

So basically they're phasing out the E1 heavy cases then, is what you're saying Jeff, and they'll just leave these cases around to order till a later point, and like E and others mentioned, BAD later in the year?

That's ok I guess and kinda what I was thinking was going on, except I hadn't looked at it in the perspective of all the E1 heavy cases are basically closed out there. Could be a nice long break of toy buying in 2013 too. I can't say I'd be upset at that.

Yeah - if this means that for the first half of 2013 all that I'll have to worry about is the Movie Heroes and Clone Wars releases and the Vintage packaged AT-AT (that has yet to surface), I'm okay with that.

I'm sure 2015 is going to be an expensive year so anything that helps to make 2013 and 2014 a less-expensive year is a GOOD thing.

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Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

Like others have mentioned, looks more like a case dump than "fan favorites", but oh well. Some nice figures in there, and it is great for anyone who is still looking for those. I may pick up an extra here or there (like RFTs or something), but I'm pretty happy with what I have from these waves already. Plus, although some of them are a bit higher priced, I think the majority of these are available on Amazon right now as well. Nice to get them out to retail too.

If it does lead to a delay in BAD, I guess I'd be ok with that too. I could use the break to save up for future stuff (or fill in other things I've been wanting to track down - like the original vintage line for me). It is just another one of those weird decisions we've seen from the SW lines lately. All of a sudden, last minute, they're throwing these out there again without much rhyme or reason to it. If they wanted to get "hard to find collector favorites" out there again, why not just release this last (online exclusive) wave to retail instead. I'm sure people would be happy to find more Royal Guards, etc. on the pegs at their local store. I'm sure there is a reason for it (they have lots of these cases left around, and they are pushing them out there again), but again, just a strange decision in a way.